Augustin ellis



(No Model.)

A. ELLIS.

MOWING MACHINE.

No. 362,946. Patented May 17, 1887.

PATENT EEicE.

AUGUSTIN ELLTS, OF

MOWING- BEDFORD, INDIANA.

MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 362,946, dated May 1'7, 1887.

Application filed March 8, 1886.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTIN ELLIs, a citizen 0f the United States, residing at Bedford, in the county of Lawrence and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Attachment for Mowing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in mowing-machines in which the horizontally reciprocating knives are made to reciprocate independently of the motion of the drive-wheels by means ofa hand-lever mounted loosely upon the axle, said axle being provided with ratchetwheels, and the hand-lever, pawls, and thumblevers, for the purpose of coupling it to the axle at will; and the object of this invention is to revolve the axle both forward and backward by hand, for the purpose of reciprocating the knives by a forward rotation of the axle and to back the machine by a backward rotation of the axle. It also relates to connecting a sliding donbletree to the staff of the lever by a rod, the doubletree being provided with suitable stops to limit its movement back and forth upon the tongue, and the objects in connecting the doubletree to the lever being to unite horsepower with hand-power, when desired, in op erating the knives or in backing the machine; also to provide a support for the lever while not in active use. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a detailed view in perspective of the whole machine with the improvements, showing the horizontally-reeiprocating knives connected by gearing to the axle, a portion of the tongue being cut away to show the main cog-wheel in upon the axle, also the connection with the crank-shaft S. One side of each drivewheel is shown removed for the purpose of showing the operation of the drive -wheel, ratchets, and pawls, the upper portion of the right-hand drive-wheel being also cut away in order to show the ratchet-wheel connections of the lever to the axle, also showing the rod connection between the lever and doubletree, and also the connection of the donbletree to the tongue. Fig. 2 comprises two detailed side and front views of the hand-lever and all of its attachments. Fig. 3 comprises three detailed views of the doubletree and its attachments. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of parts of the handlever out of gear with its ratchetwheels as supported by the rod from the doubletree.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The drive-wheels I; It, Fig. 1, operating on each end of the axle and geared to it by means automatic pawls t t t and 2' i 1', attached to the hub part of each drivewheel, a cog-wheel, m, upon the middle of the axle, working into a speed-wheel, which is geared to the shaft S, and upon the outer end of the shaft S a balance-wheel, a, with crank-pin, to which is attached one end of the pitman o, the other end being connected to the knives at 1), constitute the running-gear of the old machine.

The mainstaff Aof the hand-lever is shaped for the hand at the top end, and to the bottom end is bolted a U-shaped strap, b, (see Fig. 2,) which fits around the axle loosely when connected to it, also two small levers, C and 0, working on pins projecting from the staff, one on each side near the top, and two pawls, d (1, also working on pins projecting from the staff, one on each side near the lower end, each lever and pawl on the same side of the staff A being connected together by angle-ended rods E E, (or rods with an eye at each end working on pins,) the pawls being provided with springs /L h, as shown by Fig. 2, to keep them while not in active use off their ratchet-wheels, in conjunction with which they operate. Two ratchet-wheels,ff, one for forward and the other one for backward motion, are keyed fast to the axle on opposite sides of the leverstaff A, which must work freely between them. (See Fig. 1.)

The doubletree is provided with iron clamps ULt, bolted to its upper side, which slide along the edges of an iron plate, 1;, that is bolted to the under side of the tongue and wide enough to project beyond each side of the tongue sufficient to receive the clamps It a, the plate 1; being in length equal to the desired sweep of the hand-lever, and the rear end of the plate turned down at a right angle, against which the doubletree stops in its backward movement, while the forward movement is regulated by a chain, j, fastened at the rear end of chain to the frame part w of the machine, (see Figs. 1.

the machine sufficient to show the position of of ratchet-wheels g, keyed to the axle, and

or 4,) and the front end by a hook to the doubletree, which prevents the doubletree from sliding off the front end of the guideplate 1;. The connecting-rod t, between the lever-staff A and the doubletree, is linked or hinged at one end to the staff A, at l, and the other end 'to the doubletree by an eye-link, q, riveted to one of the clamps a, secured to the doubletree.

By inspection of Fig. 1 it appears thatthe lever-staff A may be moved forward by its handle at the top (not operating either of the pawl-levers G C) until the chain j is drawn up taut by the doubletree, and then may be moved backward, as in. Fig. 4, not operating either of the pawl-levers until the doubletree reaches the angled stop on the plate 1; underneath the tongue. Then by pressing the pawl lever O tothe side of the handle of the staff -A, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, thus moving the pawl d into gear with the ratchetwheel f, the knives may be reciprocated by moving the lever forward by hand or horse power without turning the drive-wheels until the chain j becomes taut, since the ratchetwheels 1 g, Fig. 1, in the center of the drivewheels also turn forward by rotation of the axle, while their automatic pawls z i i will not engage with the teeth but slip over the top inclines on them; and the first and fourth objects set forth in the foregoing general description of this invention may then readily be accomplished.

The hand-lever A being in the forward position, as shown by the solid lines in Fig. 1,

and the pawl-lever C pressed close to the handle of A, the pawl (1 will become engaged with the ratchet-wheel f, when a slight backward motion of the lever A will be suflicient to reduce the slack between the teeth of the ratchet-wheels g g and their automatic pawls i i z. Then a continued movement of the lever A backward will cause the whole machine to move backward, if desired, until the lever reaches its backward limit. Then by moving the lever forward again and taking a new hold upon the ratchet-wheel the operation of backing may be repeated as often as desired.

In Fig. 4 the hand-lever A is shown at rest, the pawls d and d being-both held out of gear with their ratchets f and f by the pawl-springs h h,- but being connected to the doubletree by the rod t the lever will stand somewhere between the two positions of thelever. (Shown by the solid and dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.) 7. c

I am aware that prior to my invention handlevers have been in use on mowing-machines to operate different parts. I therefore do not claim such a combination, broadly; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a mowing-machine, of a hand-lever mounted loosely on the axle and having the oppositely-disposed pawls d d and pawl levers G O, with the oppositelydisposed ratchet-wheels ff, keyed on the axle for the purpose of rotating the axle back and forth independently ofthe drive-wheels, sub 1 stantially as described and set forth.

2. The combination, in a mowing-machine, of a hand-lever mounted loosely on the axle and having the oppositely-disposed pawls d d" and pawl-levers O O, with the oppositelydisposed ratchet-wheels ff keyed on the axle, of a movable doubletree connected to the lever A by a rod, t, and operating by means of the clamps to a", working upon theguide-plate c, with angled end, and secured to the under side of the tongue, all for the purposes specified.

AUGUSTIN ELLIS. 

